GPU Upgrade

I recently got a new screen that runs on 1920x1080 and my HD5770 is taking a bit of a beating at that resolution.
I am looking to upgrade in the next month or two and is looking at the HD7870 that is in my price range.
What are the draw backs on using a PCI-Express 3 card in a PCI-Express 2.1 slot?
Should I rather go with HD6970 that is PCI-Express 2?

none whatsoever the pci 3.0 thing is just a bit of useless marketing for the time being

Man these spammers are geniuses...put (NO SPAM) in the thread title to hide the spam. It's brilliant. Hopefully this doesn't catch on...what if rapists wear signs that say (NOT A RAPIST)? They will be raping everybody! D:

the 7870 is the card to get for you, it has performance similar to that of a nvidia 580, and when overclocked is a beast of a card.

there will be no loss by using a pcie3 card in a 2.1 slot, even dual gpu cards dont max out a 2.1 slot, so there will be no issue at all

and @stonerboy, i agree that for now it is mostly useless, but with workstation cards and the like it is important, and it will also allow for raid cards containing more channels per card and the like.
another thing to remember is that now a mobo that splits lanes to a x8 configuration for multiple cards will now have the same bandwith as pcie2 at x16

I agree, get the 7870. It's the crown of <$400 market right now. Although I've to disagree with Muchoman since it still have a long way before reaching the 580 (stock vs stock) but it does give the 580 a run for it's money due to low temps, low power and high performance. If you don't mind the temp and power draw though, you can grab a 580 instead (some of them go as low as $389 now)

another thing to remember is that now a mobo that splits lanes to a x8 configuration for multiple cards will now have the same bandwith as pcie2 at x16

But you still won't gain much performance in gaming. Even doing SLI/CF on PCI-E 2.0 x16/x16 you won't see much gain in gaming performance so I assume it'll be the same thing..

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein

I agree, get the 7870. It's the crown of <$400 market right now. Although I've to disagree with Muchoman since it still have a long way before reaching the 580 (stock vs stock) but it does give the 580 a run for it's money due to low temps, low power and high performance. If you don't mind the temp and power draw though, you can grab a 580 instead (some of them go as low as $389 now)

But you still won't gain much performance in gaming. Even doing SLI/CF on PCI-E 2.0 x16/x16 you won't see much gain in gaming performance so I assume it'll be the same thing..

well stock vs stock it is slightly slower (5-10 percent) than the 580, but runs much cooler, draws much less power and can be overclocked to beat it

and in games that scale properly there is a massive gain in crossfire/sli, i dont understand what you are tryign to say with that point

I'm building myself a new IB machine when they launch at the end of the month. The machine I'm currently using has a 5770 in it. I am holding off on buying a new GPU for my new machine until the GTX 670 and 660's launch. As stupid as it sounds I feel weird spending $360 on an 7870 knowing I paid $180 for a 6870 in the machine I just sold. Waiting can only be a win/win, either the 670 and 660 will be a better deal or they'll cause the 7870 to drop in price a bit.

"It works Because I threatened it. :lol:" - " did you show it the sledgehammer" - "No, A flight of stairs""I don't want to be much of a forum Nazi but this situation calls for a hail Bosco and blitzkrieg someone".

If that does not fix it I hop in a Timber Wolf and Blast it to microscopic Particles.

will defiantly take the 7870 over the 6970 and will perform far better than my current 5770.

Take a look at this place if you looking to buy a 7870, http://www.wootware....2gb-256bit.html . Gigabyte Tri-fan Windforce OC HD7870 for R3700 - Has a monster stock clock of 1100mhz !! Those guys are legit, got one of my Sapphire HD7970's from there on special for R5800